Railway



LBARY.

' "RAILWAY SW1-TCH.

' No. 512,887. Patented Jan. 16 1894.4

WJTNE E..

NITED STATES PAT-ENT OFFICE.

MICHAEL LEARY, OF UTIOA, NEW YORK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Piatent No. 512,887, dated January16, 1894.

Application filed November 16, 189,2. Serial No. 452,130. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

13e it known that I, MICHAEL LEARY, of Utica, 1n the county of Oneidaand State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Railway-Switches; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the in- Ventron, which will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame, reference being had to the accompanylug drawings, and to thefigures of reference marked thereon, which form'part of thisspecification.

My invention relates to an improvement in automatic railway switches.

In the drawings which accompany and form a part of this specification,Figure 1, shows a plan view of my improved switch in its normalposition. Fig. 2, shows a plan view of a portion of the switch with themovable switch rails 1n the positions which they assume as a car ortruck passes from the switch, that is from the left toward the right ofthe ligure as shown 1n Fig. 1. Fig. 3, shows a cross section of therails taken on line A-B of Fig. 1, in connection with a pair of wheelson the rails, the wheels passing from the right toward the left of thefigure as shown in Fig. 1. Flg. 4, shows a cross section of the railstaken or. the same line as Fig. 3, with a pair of wheels running on therails, the rails being shown in the positions which they assume when thewheels are passing from the left toward the right, as the switch isshown in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 shows in detail a cross section of rails takenon line C--D of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail view to illustratethe poslition of the spring rail relative to the main rai Referring moreparticularly to the reference numerals marked on the drawings in a morespecific description of the device, 1 and 2, indicat-e the rails of arailway. As they approach the switch they diverge forming the outsiderails of the branches. The switch shown is what is known Vas a diamondswitch, that is both branches diverge from the direct line of the maintrack to the sides of such direct line. At one side, between the rails 1and 2, substantially at a point where they begin to diverge, I provide asplit spring rail 3, which is tensioned to hold itself in contact withrail l, and is free i to vibrate at its thin and projecting end. The

continuation from split rail 3, after passing thefrog 4, forms the innerrail 5, of one of the branches. Adjacent to the opposite rail or rail 2of the main track, a little nearer the frog is provided a spring splitrail 6, which is secured to the rail 2 by a block 7, and the bolt 8which make and form connections between the rails 2 and 6. The rail 6isa spring rail and is tensioned to stand apart as shown in Fig. 1 fromrail 2. The split or thin end of the rail plays on a plate or keeper 9which is provided with a hook or catch 10, to limit the throw of therail toward the inside or between the tracks. The continuation of therail 6, after passing the frog 4,l forms the inner rail 11 of the otherbranch.l The end of rail 3 plays on the plate 12 provided on a tie forthat purpose. It will be readily understood that the rails 3 and 6 areclamped to the cross-ties at their ends nearest the frog 4, and normallyoccupy the positions shown in full lines in Fig. 1, but are thrown tothe dotted positions in said figure when acted upon by the wheels of thecar as it passes.

The operation of the device is substantially as follows: A pair ofwheels coming to the switch from the right hand of Fig. 1, the wheeltraveling the rail 1, is picked up or carried up split rail 3, whichforces the truck toward railf2, and causes the truck to follow in thedirection of the arrow, shown on the upper side of Fig. 1. In thisposition there is no operation of the parts of the switch so far asspring rails 3 and'6 are concerned. The position of the rails and wheelsas they pass on to the switch from the right as' shown in Fig. l isshown in Fig. l3. A pair of wheels or trucks passing over the branch asShown by the arrow in the lower portion of Fig. 1, the ange of the wheeltraveling on railrl wedges the rail -3 away from 1, and makes an openingthrough it which it passes, and a wheel traveling on rail 11 forces thespring rail 6 over against rail 2 or nearly so, so that this wheel iscarried on to rail 2. This position is shown in Fig. 4. When the wheelshave passed beyond the points of the spring rails 3 and 6, theseinstantaneously resume their normal position as shown in Fig. 1. l

In constructing my switch it is preferable to provide the point of therail 6, in its normal position at a trifle greater distance from therail 2, than it is at a point a little distant from the end or point ofrail 6. By this pro- Vision the rail 6, assists in giving the newdirection to a pair of wheels coming on to the switch, as the outside ofthe flange of the wheel may thus be made to engage the rai16 after ithas passed the point and by not engaging at the point the rail isrelieved of much wear, this being a favorable end as there is not muchmaterial in the rail at the point.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination in a railway switch of diverging rails forming the outerrails of each branch, an automatic independent spring split railtensioned to lie against one of the diverging rails, and an automaticindepend#

